1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to ultrasound systems, and more particularly to an ultrasound system for setting an intima-media thickness (IMT) measuring region.
2. Background Art
The ultrasound system has become an important and popular diagnostic tool due to its non-invasive and non-destructive nature. Modern high-performance ultrasound imaging diagnostic systems and techniques are commonly used to produce two or three-dimensional images of internal features of patients.
The carotid is one of the arteries in a human body, which connects the main artery of the heart with the cerebral artery to supply blood to the brain. Two carotids exist at left and right sides of the neck. About 80% of the blood which is supplied to the brain may pass through the carotid. The carotid has been frequently examined using an ultrasound system to accurately evaluate carotid stenosis and arteriosclerosis. Intima-media thickness (IMT) has been used as an index to indicate the degrees of carotid arteriosclerosis. The IMT represents a thickness between lining membrane and media of the carotid.
Generally, the IMT is repeatedly measured for a small region. However, this requires significant time and effort. Thus, various IMT measurement applications for automatically measuring the IMT have been developed to achieve easy and fast measurement. However, the user is required to directly set a measuring region, which makes it highly difficult to accurately measure the IMT.